HOUSTON — As always, we go back to the beginning, back to the start, back to when Derek Jeter was simply a promising prospect and not the idol of his age. We go back to April 2, 1996, because that was Jeter’s first Opening Day, because anyone who says now they knew then he would become what he has become is either lying or one of Jeter’s parents.

“I was just trying to prove I belonged,” Jeter said a few weeks ago, recalling that bone-chilling day at Cleveland’s Jacobs Field, the day he announced that something special had permeated our midst. It is as much a part of the Jeter Legend as the Mr. November home run or the flip play or the fact that his 3,000th hit came on a home run.

He was 21 years old that day. The Yankees hadn’t won a championship in 18 years. The New York sporting world we know today was upside down then — the night before, Rick Pitino had led Kentucky to the national championship at the Meadowlands. The Knicks were just getting to know their brand-new coach, an intense jangle of Xs and Os named Van Gundy. And Rey Ordonez had made that throw from his knees the day before against the Cardinals at Shea.

Ordonez vs. Jeter, everyone said. Willie, Mickey & the Duke for the new millennium. Jeter admitted he’d watched that play a time or three on “SportsCenter,” but “just because Rey had a good game, it didn’t mean I needed to.”

The day before the opener Jeter’s manager, Joe Torre, a huge advocate, had conceded that Jeter didn’t exactly look like Babe DiMantle during spring training: “He’s suffering from inexperience. He’s got those bumblebees inside him and he has a tendency to make the game too fast. He rushes.”

And then the games started, for real.

Then his career started. For real.

There is a scene in “The Godfather,” before Michael Corleone flips to the family business, when he discovers that guards have abandoned his father’s hospital room. He and Enzo, the baker, pretend to have guns in their coats, and the cars carrying the assassins pull away. Enzo can’t light his cigarette because his hands are shaking so violently.

Michael? Calmly, he flicks a lighter, lights Enzo’s Lucky Strike. He has no visible nerves.

And so it was on April 2, 1996, that Jeter would hit a home run off Dennis Martinez in the fifth inning, the Yankees clinging to a 1-0 lead, the ball flying toward left field and Jeter thinking: “Please don’t catch it.”

And so it was that two innings later, David Cone still nursing that 2-0 lead with a man on second and two outs, Omar Vizquel sent a flare out to short left-center field. Cone, knowing an RBI single when he saw one, cursed and ran to back up home plate. Only he didn’t have to. Jeter made the catch.

Because, of course, he made the catch.

“It feels good,” he would say later. “I did all right. We won the game.”

Eighteen years later, would it surprise you even a little bit if he had something special in store for Tuesday evening, when the Yankees and the Astros open their seasons at Minute Maid Park, which is precisely where the Yankees ended a frustrating season last year, one in which Jeter was barely a rumor around the club, his foot and his birth certificate conspiring to wreck his year.

Would it surprise you if there was a long throw from the hole, or a leaping catch, or an expertly turned double play that broke the Astros heart somewhere along the way? Would it stun you if, late in the game, runners on base, Jeter found a hole in the infield or a gap in the outfield?

And would it surprise you if he said something like this when it was all done: “It feels good. I did all right. We won the game.”

You want to know why Jeter is Jeter, how Jeter is Jeter? Go back to the beginning. Go back to the start. And randomly select any of a thousand other moments from across the past 18 years. And then enjoy, one last time, as Jeter dives into one more baseball season. We won’t see his like again soon.

Share your thoughts on Jeter

The endless-Yankee-envy of pea-brained Pinta! So let's see, its ok for the red sox to outspend some franchises by 100mil+ and all but a couple of others by whatever amount to win, but not the envied Yankees. Sounds like a simple case of sour grapes and unhampered hate of the #1 corporate-baseball franchise. Maybe some day down into eternity, your corporation will be #1 and we will not have to listen to the weeping and gnashing of teeth of the green-eyed, little, boys from the green monster town----nah, your hate is too far gone, we will always OWN your envious soul! Selah!

Rob, the-payroll-rambler-Pinta, is plagued by the success-shadow the Yankees have cast over the history of baseball, but especially their eastern-league, crybaby-Beantown neighbors. So, payroll-rambler-pinta, like his sobbing-sidekick, BestJOKEever, has succumbed to the success of the most-valued sports franchise ever and lost their envious souls in the process----we will always OWN their envious souls! Selah!

damn right there won't be another Jeter. what other position player will EVER be surrounded by the best talent money can buy in every year of a 20 year career? the most overrated player in the history of MLB. he saw more great pitches as a result of who batted behind him than any player that wore a uniform. a compiler who never won an MVP or lead the league in any category (other than hits,once)in any year. those are just facts,ladies and gentlemen and not up for debate. the Yankee payroll enabled them to make the playoffs year after year and for Derek to grab the postseason spotlight. smoke and mirrors. nothing else .25% of all MLBers would have had equal success on those rosters. and that's being conservative. truth hurts.

Jeter? An absolute wonder, a one of a kind, and a unanimous first time entry into the Hall of Fame. But "Wont See Anything Like Jeter Anytime Soon." As a kid I heard that about Mickey and Yogi and so many, many greats I had the honor of seeing in the 50's and 60's. But then other super great "heros" came along which we didn't recognize at first as we didn't Jeter in 1995. The game is so great that every generation has and always will have superstar players to oogle over.

As for Jeter, he's been the best at his position on and off the field that I've ever seen in 55 years of loving this game. But with every new crop of rookies you never know when the next Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, or derek Jeter will come along.

@theenforcer what have you won as opposed to bought? do you not understand how you 'won' those rings and that you can't even buy them anymore. 1 ring in this entire century. get out more and stop living in your NY bubble.there's a big country out there,and they're fed up with your team. why would Beantown be jealous of the Yankees or any other NY team? do you really want to compare championships in the last ten years of their baseball,football,basketball and hockey teams? really?get informed or just continue to sound like the pathetic,delusional ,sensitive and thin-skinned fool that you are.